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Jump Street launches Tots parties and extra sessions
Jump Street, Colchester’s popular trampoline park, launched Jump Tots sessions for toddlers in March. From 6th June they will be offering Tots birthday parties during these Tots sessions, and rolling out additional Tots sessions in the afternoon.

During term time, the ‘Jump Tots’ sessions will take place on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 10am – 11am and 11am – 12pm and on Tuesdays 1-2pm and Thursdays 2-3pm. During these sessions, when the park is exclusively for toddlers up to and including five years old, it’s now possible to book a Jump Tots party with catering and a party room.

Children must be accompanied by an adult and each one-hour session costs £5 per person plus £1.75 for the regulation non-slip socks – which can be reused on subsequent visits. Tots Parties available from £11 per head.

The extra sessions and party packages have been rolled out in response to increasing demand from parents of younger children.

Tony Hudson, GM at Jump Street, said: “We are so grateful to the parents and Tots for their unrelenting support. We listen to all the feedback and requests we receive and where possible, we will act on it. On this occasion, we’re really looking forward to enabling more little ones to visit Jump Street and give parents another option to choose from when the little ones need to get out and get active.”

Are you a secret entrepreneur? Have you got what it takes to turn £500 into £5,000? Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust (EHAAT) is looking for five secret entrepreneurs to take part in a brand new fundraising initiative; the Entrepreneurs Challenge sponsored by Medical Aviation Services.

The Charity will be investing £500 in five local entrepreneurs with the best and most creative fundraising ideas to turn that money into £5,000. From all the candidates that apply, ten will be shortlisted to pitch their idea in front of the EHAAT Guardians. The panel consists of Jane Gurney, CEO of Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust, Simon Stevens, Director of Symbian Print and Fiona Colwell, Partner and Head of Civil Litigation Department at Paul Robinson Solicitors and John Higgs, Legal and Contract Specialist of Medical Aviation Services.

After a grilling by the EHAAT Guardians the top 4 candidates will be selected to receive the £500 investment and the 5th candidate will be chosen via a public vote. Videos of all 10 pitches will be broadcast on You Tube for the public to view and then vote for their favourite. The top five candidates then have 3 months to turn their £500 into £5,000 (or more!) with the support of a mentor.

Wendy Marcon-Knightley, Sponsorship & Events Manager at Essex & Herts Air Ambulance Trust, said: “We are very excited about this brand new initiative and hope the high fliers of Essex & Hertfordshire will relish the opportunity to take on the challenge! We are really looking forward to seeing what inventive ideas people come up with! The Entrepreneurs Challenge would not be able to go ahead without our sponsors. A big thank you to headline sponsors Medical Aviation Services and our candidate sponsors Anglia Ruskin University, E Hobbs (Farms) Ltd, RP2 and James Hallam Insurance.”

If you think you have what it takes then register now to receive your application pack! Simply visit EHAAT.uk.com or email Events@EHAAT.uk.com. Deadline for applications is Friday 22nd May 2015.

Well, we began the New Year as we left 2014, with a national shortage of approximately 8,000 foster families. When we started Brighter Futures Foster Care some seven years ago, it was our shared vision to develop a child-centred service which would attract people who wanted to develop their commitment, parenting skills and love for children into a skilled and professional approach to parenting somebody else’s children.
I was reminded of why we wanted to run a service such as ours when at one of our three panto’s I met with some of the fantastic children and young people, their Foster Parents, families and family friends. A great time to share smiles and laughter, even if a bit of the action is ‘behind you’!
A few comments from young care leavers puts it all into perspective; such as:
‘If I cannot be with my own family, then I want the opportunity to experience family life, and be cared for by people who provide a nice place to live and are there for me, to listen to my problems and help me sort them out, just like my Foster Parents’
And also:
‘My Foster Parents gave me a little grasp of a different way of life…I was very lucky to live there’.
Foster Parents really do make a difference, even, as in your own family, it does not always feel so at the time.
We are lucky enough to be attracting some great new people to our experienced, wonderful Foster Parent workforce. We are about to launch our new training and support plan to give our Foster Parents the chance to develop their specialist skills.
We’re looking to recruit more Foster Parents across Essex, so it would be great to hear from you or anyone you know who may be interested in fostering. We can also arrange for a chat with one of our experienced Foster Parents, or alternatively we have some planned open days and events. Attending one of these will give you the chance to ask the questions face to face with staff and Foster Parents. Please do get in touch with us and we can let you know the dates and venues of these events nearest to you.
So, please this year, if you are not one of our great Foster Parents already, make 2015 the year that you explore the possibility of really making a lasting difference and think about fostering.

Myself and two of my children were invited by Cadbury UK to visit The Shard in London for the Halloween event.

Our visit was Thursday 30th October.

My daughters spotted the building before me and I was meant to be looking for it. I should have just looked up towards the sky.

Entering the building, you are met by friendly, helpful staff who direct you where to go.

Lift 1 takes you to floor 33 in a very short time. Lift 2 takes you to floor 68 equally as fast as the first lift. (6 metres a second). The rides are smooth and you feel very safe. However be prepared for some disorientation and possible ear blocking as you leave the second lift.

Floor 68 has a viewing platform and you can really see for miles. Iconic sights such as the London Eye are easy to spot. We also managed to view the amazing poppies at The Tower of London.

We then took the stairs to level 72. Our first view on this level was of the huge Cadbury’s Halloween Spider Web which took up almost one side of the Shard. The children on the level seemed to be quite interested in the web.

This level is slightly open roofed and was a little breezy when we visited. Whilst I would have liked to have looked around the platform my daughters were actually quite scared because of this so we had to go back down to level 68.

After a while we went back down in the two lifts (again not so good for the ears). The exit is through the Gift Shop which is to be expected. Again the staff were very helpful.

I would recommend a visit to The Shard. The numbers are limited so you are not rushed and can view for as long as you wish. I found the children visiting at the same time as us were interested although I am not sure how long the attention span of a younger child would last for.

Count The Kicks is one of the UK’s leading pregnancy charities which aims to drastically reduce the number of families that experience the tragedy of still birth in the UK which currently stands at 17 babies every day. By educating expectant mums on the importance of monitoring their baby’s movements, the charity aim to help to cut this number by at least a third and help expectant mothers have more healthy pregnancies.

Tracy, from Harlow said:
“We are volunteer recyclers for Count the Kicks, so we collect recycling regionally within the Essex area. Count the Kicks has recycling volunteers across the country and we really want to raise awareness of our scheme and encourage people to donate these items to us which would otherwise go to landfill, so that they can be recycled and the money can go to such a good cause.”

Just one packet of empty wet wipes could fund one leaflet with information for an expectant mother.

If you would like further information on Count The Kicks, there is a wealth of information on their website http://www.countthekicks.org.uk and Facebook pages: facebook.com/ukcountthekicks or facebook.com/ctkrecycling

The six Essex collectors are as follows, please contact them direct if you would like more information:

The Pride of Essex Awards recognises and rewards the achievements and the courage of adults and children who overcome adversity and who make a difference to the lives of others and to the community.

If you know a child or adult who has overcome adversity or just given their best for the community, or a group which has made an outstanding achievement, you can nominate them for an award by going to the Pride of Essex Awards website www.prideofessexawards.org.

There are four categories. Each category will have four highly commended as well as an award winner. All will receive acknowledgements and rewards.

The Directa Ultimate Award and the Susie Cornell Award recognise and reward adults and children who have overcome adversity. The Blue Strawberry Unsung Hero Award recognises and rewards exceptional care in the community. The SL Caravans Community Champion Award recognises outstanding community achievement and fundraising.

The awards are now open to receive nominations which can be made either online or by post to ‘P.O.E ‘ , c/o Directa UK Ltd, Cold Norton, Essex CM3 6UA.